Poets Wear Prada is a poetry publishing house with excellent poets and affordable books with beautiful covers. Have you had your poetry today?--Meredith Sue Willis, Books for Readers * * * Stylistically, these beautifully designed and produced chapbooks bear their own distinctive signature.--Linda Lerner, SMALL PRESS REVIEW

Saturday, October 19, 2013

Weinraub’s “Lapidary” — Poetry to Rock Your World: 46 Gems from Amber to Zircon Speak

New Book from Poets Wear Prada: “Lapidary,” inspired by gemstones, by poet and master storyteller Richard Marx Weinraub. Forty-six stones tell their stories and ours. Called “beautiful and peculiar” [Corral] and “a must have” [Odwitt].


HOBOKEN, N.J. -- Jack Cooper, production editor at Poets Wear Prada, today announced the official launch of “Lapidary” a new full-length collection of “formal verse” by poet Richard Marx Weinraub inspired by gemstones. “This book has been a long time coming: Richard’s previous full-length collection, ‘Wonder Bread Hill,’ appeared in 2002 — just over a decade ago. Craft continues to precede him; curiosity propels encyclopedic and astral projections of his subject. Natural science, supernatural myth, popular culture, historic events, wit, insight, and chutzpah, with pick, detonation, and loupe, by turns, tease ‘Lapidary’’s uncanny combination of unearthed and unearthly detail into an array of forty-six poetical gems — from amber to zircon — that speak their remarkable stories — and ours. These are poems to read and re-read. They are perfect! ‘Lapidary’ is singular — on a shelf by itself. Hail, Richard, King of Marx!” said Cooper.

Eduardo C. Corral, author of “Slow Lightning,” winner of the 2012 Yale Younger Poets Prize, called these poems “beautiful and peculiar.”


LAPIDARY
by Richard Marx Weinraub
Paperback: 70 pp.
ISBN-13: 978-0615833224
List: $15.00,
Poets Wear Prada: 2013
“Weinraub cracks open craft to reveal humane interiors. Fixed forms with meter and rhyme, tenderly chiseled, deftly sculpted, pulse with regret, joy and a hundred other sentiments. … These poems ‘forge a new world out of stone,’ a landscape populated by jade, garnet, and onyx with time-rich thoughts, blood-rich emotion,” said Corral.

Edward Odwitt, Connecticut writer and illustrator, described “Lapidary” as “an original and brilliant collection of poems that offers insights into the various states of human nature through the voices of different stones. This book is a must have, and it will be avidly read for years to come.”

“In ‘Lapidary’ — stones, semi-precious, precious — stones talk to you, skillfully, convincingly and you believe them, you believe them!” said Thomas Lux, acclaimed poet and teacher, and Bourne chair in poetry at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Roxanne Hoffman, publisher, said “We’re delighted to receive such enthusiastic response to the book. The poetry rocks! All the stones are ‘precious’ here — whether rock crystal or diamond, garnet or ruby, agate or emerald. Richard has taken the ‘stodginess’ out of ‘formal verse’; he employs its fixed and traditional patterns as a master diamond cutter would — to transform a seeming dull gray rock to its inherent sparkling beauty. Bravo!”

“Lapidary” is Weinraub’s second book project with Poets Wear Prada. “Heavenly Bodies,” a limited-edition illustrated chapbook of twelve poems, was released in 2008 by the Hoboken-based press. It included “Persephone’s Dream” which was nominated for a 2009 Pushcart prize. “Wonder Bread Hill,” his “sonovella” (a novella written in sonnets), was published by the University of Puerto Rico Press in 2002. A political thriller based on what may be the most explosive event in recent Puerto Rican history — the 1978 murder of two young radicals on Cerro Maravilla (Wonder Hill) and the trial that ensued — Weinraub’s 140 sonnets were translated into Spanish by Elidio La Torre Lagares. A Spanish edition, “Maravilla Rebanada,” was published by Terranova Editores in 2009.

Related to the Marx Brothers through his mother, Richard Marx Weinraub was born in New York City in 1949. He was Professor of English at the University of Puerto Rico from 1987 through 2010. His poetry has appeared in many journals including “The Paris Review,” “Asheville Poetry Review,” “South Carolina Review,” “The Hampden-Sydney Poetry Review,” “Green Mountains Review,” “North American Review,” “Slate,” and “River Styx.” Weinraub lives in Newark, New Jersey.

Founded in 2006, Poets Wear Prada publishes beautifully designed, well-crafted books of poetry from Sinatra’s hometown, Hoboken, the birthplace of professional baseball.

“Lapidary” by Richard Marx Weinraub (Hoboken: Poets Wear Prada, 2013), 70 pages, ISBN- 10: 0615833225, ISBN-13: 978-0615833224, list price: $15.00, is available in paperback from Amazon Books and other popular booksellers.

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Sunday, October 13, 2013

Chapbook Classic Back In Print: Levenson's "Dances With Tears" POD Paperback Available November

Efrayim Levenson's "Dances With Tears" Print on Demand Edition Due Out November from Poets Wear Prada Following His Recently Released "Funhouse"

Described as a collection of "heartfelt psalms" ["Small Press Review''] and "a blast of Hasidic bebop ecstasy [Fishbane], "Dances With Tears" takes readers on a walk along a path a spiritual discovery. The new edition available November features cover art by publisher Roxanne Hoffman.

Poetry Chapbook Classic Back In Print from Hoboken Publisher

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 
Oct. 10, 2013 - HOBOKEN, N.J. -- Roxanne Hoffman, publisher at Poets Wear Prada, announced today the upcoming re-issue of “Dances With Tears” by poet Efrayim Levenson.  Originally printed in 2007 as a limited-edition (under 500 copies) saddle-stitched chapbook, and described as “a blast of Hasidic bebop ecstasy” by Brooklyn poet and Bensonhurst resident Craig Fishbane, the newly designed mass market paperback edition will be available this November.

DANCES WITH TEARS 
by Efrayim Levenson
(Poets Wear Prada, 2013)
Hoffman said, “This very popular and charming little book was reprinted twice after its original print run sold out with each subsequent printing selling out. How nice it will be to have the book in circulation again so that more readers can enjoy it.”  The new perfect-bound soft cover edition will be available print-on-demand, so the little book should not go out of print, again, at least not anytime soon. An initial run of fifty copies will be printed, to be signed and numbered by the author for collectors.

The new edition of “Dances With Tears” follows the recent publication of Levenson’s “Funhouse,” written while the poet listened to the music of guitarist Buckethead.

Levenson, who often composes his poems under headphones listening to music, said, “There are instrumental music interpretations involved with most of these.”  He recalls listening to Dave Schmeidler, “Skyrats Scraps,” HDS, 2002; Ensemble Ambrosius, “The Zappa Album,” Musical Heritage Society, 2001; Yo-Yo Ma, Edgar Meyer, Mark O'Connor, “Appalachia Waltz,” Sony Classical, 1996; Pat O'Connell, “Tikal,” Rogue Elephant Music, 2000; Prasanna, “Peaceful,” Susila Music, 2001; and John Zorn (performed by Rashanim), “Masada Rock,”  Tzadik, 2005. And of course Buckethead, “Electric Tears,” Meta, 2002, was playing when the poet wrote his poem “Electrocuted Tears.” The admiration Levenson has for these musicians is often returned. John Zorn, the American composer and saxophone player, wrote Levenson a personal thank-you note for “Mordechai’s Day at the Beach” after the poet hand-delivered a copy of the poem with his email address, the first time they met.

Levenson has collaborated with several musicians, including Dave Schmeider, Rey Scott, and others, and said he has a spoken word CD in the works.

The book's production editor, Jack Cooper, described the new front cover as "Beautiful!" Cooper had requested “something that colorfully and with Surrealist execution combines tears with rain.”  Hoffman, who is also a graphic designer, said she created the image of the young man dancing in a drizzle of tears, someone just learning to be “frum” [Yiddish for “devout” or “pious”], after googling hundreds of images of Hasidic men dancing. Levenson’s daughter Marissa took the photo of the author that appears on the new back cover.

Levenson began writing poetry in 1982.  His work is influenced by poets Lawrence Ferlingetti and Allen Ginsburg, and Chabad Chasidism, as well as by the music he enjoys.

"Dances With Tears" takes the reader on a walk along a path of spiritual discovery. The book, described as collection of “heartfelt psalms” by Small Press Review, includes the poem "& Ribbon," which was nominated for a 2008 Pushcart Prize. Rabbi Yossi Mendelson, Congregation Machane Chodesh, said “Efrayim’s poetry truly embodies the experience of a contemporary Jew who has found a very deep inspiration in his ancient roots. There is a certain freshness and bright sunny quality that comes with his pure simplicity which cuts to the very core of his growing relationship with G-d.”

Poetrymanz Press released his first collection, "For My Relations," in 2000.

Founded in 2006, Poets Wear Prada publishes beautifully designed, well-crafted books of poetry from Sinatra's hometown, Hoboken, the birthplace of professional baseball.

“Dances With Tears” by Efrayim Levenson (Hoboken: Poets Wear Prada, 2013), 24 pages, ISBN-10: 0981767834, ISBN-13: 978-981767833, list price: $12.00, will be available in paperback from Amazon Books and other popular booksellers.

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Friday, October 4, 2013

FUNHOUSE by Efrayim Levenson Takes Readers on 3-Day Cranial Amusement Ride

New Poems by Efrayim Levenson From Poets Wear Prada Take Readers on 3-Day Cranial Amusement Ride

Poets Wear Prada today announced release of Efrayim Levenson's “Funhouse,” poems written listening to guitarist Buckethead. Second book with Hoboken-based publisher follows "Dances With Tears," his "blast of Hasidic bebop ecstasy" [Fishbane].
 
FUN HOUSE, Poems by Efrayim Levenson,  Poets Wear Prada, 2013
FUNHOUSE
Poems by
Efrayim Levenson
Paperback: 42pp.; $12:00
 ISBN-13: 978-0615848853
Poets Wear Prada, 2013
 


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 
 
PRLog (Press Release) - Oct. 3, 2013 - HOBOKEN, N.J. -- Roxanne Hoffman, publisher at Poets Wear Prada, announced today publication of “Funhouse” by poet Efrayim Levenson.

“Funhouse,” written while Levenson listened to the music of guitarist Buckethead, is a three-day journey in a surreal amusement park filled with sea lions, guitars, monsters, crickets, spiders, a guillotine, a human pretzel, more guitars, a traffic jam, drought, grasshoppers, angels, and even more guitars.

The book’s production editor, Jack Cooper, said, “‘Funhouse’ is superb; it reads beautifully, uncovers much that is profound, and remains full of surprise.”

“Efrayim Levenson’s ‘Funhouse’ sends us on a wild nightmarish yet at times tender merry-go-round ride through his own private Coney Island and ours,” said New York poet Steve Dalachinsky.

David Elsasser, founder of Parkside Poetry Collective, said, “In his new chapbook, ‘Funhouse’, Efrayim Levenson responds to the guitar virtuosity of Buckethead with a poetic soul-jouney that reverbs through the wildest word riffs.”

“I have been addicted to writing poetic interpretations of instrumental music for about seven years now,”  says Efrayim Levenson.  “This project was a lot of fun!  I hope Buckethead likes it.”

This is Efrayim Levenson’s second book project with Poets Wear Prada.  In 2007, the Hoboken-based press released “Dances With Tears,” a walk along a path of spiritual discovery.  The book, called "a blast of Hasidic bebop ecstasy" by Brooklyn poet, Craig Fishbane, includes the poem “& Ribbon,” which was nominated for a 2008 Pushcart Prize.  Poetrymanz Press released his previous collection, “For My Relations,” in 2000.

Founded in 2006, Poets Wear Prada publishes beautifully designed, well-crafted books of  poetry from Sinatra’s hometown, Hoboken, the birthplace of professional baseball.

“Funhouse” by Efrayim Levenson (Hoboken: Poets Wear Prada, 2013), 42 pages, ISBN- 10: 0615848850, ISBN-13: 978-0615848853, list price: $12.00, is available in paperback from Amazon Books and other popular booksellers.


Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Poets Wear Prada at CUNY Chapfest Bookfair May 3 & 4 in NYC

PWP's Contribution to CUNY Chapfest Super Chap Anthology


Please join Poets Wear Prada, our Chief Executive Editor, Roxanne Hoffman, and our Creative Director & Production Editor, Jack Cooper, at the fifth annual CUNY Chapfest Bookfair this Friday, May 3 and Saturday, May 4, held at the CUNY Graduate Center, 365 Fifth Avenue at 34th Street, NYC.  The festival is taking place in the Proshansky Auditorium and on the C-Level.

The CUNY Chapfest celebrates the chapbook as a work of art and as a medium for alternative and emerging writers and publishers.

Poets Wear Prada will be among the sixty chapbook publishers showcased at this event.  We will be presenting chapbooks by Mary Orovan, Erik La Prade, Austin Alexis, Joel Allegretti, Richard Marx Weinraub, Laura Vookles, Tantra Zawadi,  Michael Montlack, Ice Gayle Johnson, Gil Fagiani, Maria Lisella, and more.  A limited number of signed first editions will available for some of our titles.

To celebrate the festival's fifth year,  Lost & Found: The CUNY Poetics Document Initiative has created a  superchap — a mini-anthology.  Each participating publisher was invited to fill one page of the chapbook however they wanted. The resulting book was assembled and designed by Megan Mangum, our Lost & Found designer,  with the cover designed by book artist Jeff Peterson of Double Cross Press. The printing was done by Peter Viegas and the Graduate Center Graphic Arts shop.


Friday book fair hours are from 12:00pm to 6:30pm;  Saturday hours from 12:00pm to 5:00pm. 

The festival is free and open to the public, though workshops  require advance registration and some may require a small materials fee.

For the complete schedule and list of participating publishers please visit: http://chapbookfestival.org/

Facebook Event Link: https://www.facebook.com/events/541464705905065/

The CUNY Chapfest is co-sponsored by the CUNY Office of Academic Affairs, Academy of American Poets, the Center for Book Arts, the CUNY MFA Affiliation Group, Poetry Society of America, Poets House, and Poets & Writers.

Sunday, March 24, 2013

MON 3/25 7PM AT YIPPIE: "DHARMA BUM" JACK COOPER "ON THE ROAD AGAIN"


JOHN JACK “JACKIE” (eDWARD) COOPER
is
O N T H E R O A D A G A I N

Yippie Museum Café
9 Bleecker Street (near the Bowery)

Monday, March 25th, 2013
7 – 9:30 pm

A celebration of
JACK KEROUAC

hosted by Gordon Gilbert
with fellow dharma bums:
Big Mike Roxanne Hoffman Patricia Carragon
Evie Ivy Puma Perl Vivian O’Shaughnessy
Jon L. Peacock Bob Quatrone
Linda Camiola Steve Dalachinsky Amy Barone
Mitch Corber Clare Ultimo 
Stephen Bluestone April Jones

subway: B,D,F,M, downtown 6 to Broadway/Lafayette
$4 suggested donation



Thursday, March 14, 2013

Recalling Einstein: Headbanger by Jack Cooper


Detail of "Vanitas," Adriaan Coorte, 1688,
Zeeuws Museum, Middelburg, Netherlands,
photographed 30 June 2009, 14:19 by zullie 
[Source: Wiki Loves Art / NL project]


HEADBANGER
by John Jack Jackie (Edward) Cooper

Closer to a precipice, I shrink: indifferent to salvation, pray
for calm, control -- pity, less purpose; plead award of concentration, 

allowed reserve -- allowed, of course, being false: deniable reward,
testing ice where firm decision
by itself must grant the go-ahead. 

God does not play dice, Einstein says,
with this universe, nor any other­ --
neither ought I: its least
affiliate of empty space. 

But act, instead, as I shall attend:
in fullness of self-contempt,
like a cistern; brim pride, shame,
excessive rage, yet exceed  -- not enough;

hand raised, in arrest of hopeful despair,
mutter "too much," fallen far and far:
leave now only to crawl no farther on land, capable of pitching headlong. 




John Jack Jackie (Edward) Cooper, poet, fiction writer and translator, is production editor and co-publisher at Poets Wear Prada. His micro-chap Ten, preview of his forthcoming Aphorithms, was released in 2012.  His blog, These are Aphorithms, can be found at http://aphorithms.blogspot.com

"The theory says a lot, but does not really bring us any closer to the secret 
of the 'old one.' I, at any rate, am convinced that He does not throw dice."
                                                                                    -- Albert Einstein


One hundred and thirty-four years ago, today, Albert Einstein was born on March 14, 1879.

Another Poem for Albert Einstein: Timely by Mary Orovan



In this 1931 photo, physicist Albert Einstein is shown writing out an equation for the density of the Milky Way. Einstein revolutionized physics, starting with a series of papers in 1905, and became a cultural icon as well.



TIMELY
by Mary Orovan


Let me buy some time, said
     the rich man,
I now buy someone to smooth          
     every minute of what
I have.  But time looms large,                                 
     inexorably forward.
I can crush it, said the witch
     on her sonic broom.

Not fast enough—I'll take you
     there, said light,
if you observe at my speed  
     I can make time
stand still—that's what you folks
     call paradise.

     But I want to zag to the past,
embellish memories, laser on the hill
     of daisies where we first lay;

     zig to tomorrow
a dimension changing everything.

     Heaven is now; breathe &
be—shining with photons, transparent
     as good air    joy
the pure silence of not even ticking.




This poetry selection by Mary Orovan is from her chapbook, Green Rain, published by Poets Wear Prada in 2008.



Green Rain
by Mary Orovan
ISBN 978-0-9817678-5-7
Soft Cover, Perfect Bound, 30 pp.
$10.00
Buy online at Amazon.com
http://amzn.com/0981767850/
And from CreateSpace

https://www.createspace.com/3479061

March 14: Celebrating Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein
March 14, 1879 – April 18, 1955

March 14, 2013 -- Theoretical physicist and Nobel Prize winner Albert Einstein, best known for his mass-energy equivalence formula, E = mc2 -- probably the world's most famous equation -- was born one hundred and thirty-four years ago today. Einstein is also recognized as the developer of the general theory of relativity, one of the two pillars of modern physics (alongside quantum mechanics).  In 1921, he  received the Nobel Prize in Physics "for his services to theoretical physics, and especially for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect," the latter pivotal in establishing quantum theory.  In 1999, forty-four years after his death, leading physicists voted Einstein the "greatest physicist ever."

This popular photo of the physicist was taken on Einstein's 72nd birthday on March 14, 1951. UPI photographer Arthur Sasse was trying to persuade Einstein to smile for the camera, but having smiled for photographers many times that day, Einstein stuck out his tongue instead. Einstein requested nine copies for personal use, one of which he signed for a reporter. On June 19, 2009, the original signed photograph was sold at auction for whopping $74,324, a record for an Einstein picture.

[Source: Wikipedia]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PROFESSOR!


PUZZLE
by Austin Alexis

When Albert Einstein stuck his tongue out
for the camera
was it clean?
And if he didn’t care,
why not?
What equation was he mucking-up,
what Inca cord math was he unknotting,
or what graph was he scribbling upon
by defiantly not washing his mouth?
What proof
was he trying to prove?
Did he always have a pronouncement?
Was he saying
with his lips gaping
like a Rocky Mountain cave
that the mysteries of X,
the nagging questions of existence
are too profound
for seriousness?

This poetry selection is from Austin Alexis's book, For Lincoln & Other Poems, published by Poets Wear Prada in 2010.

For Lincoln & Other Poems
by Austin Alexis
ISBN 978-0-9841844-3-9 
Perfect Bound, 34pp.
List Price: $10.00
Poet Wear Prada: March 2010
Available at Babbo's Books
242 Prospect Park West
Brooklyn, NY 11215
www.babbosbooks.com
Phone: 718.788.3475
 Available from Create Space:
www.createspace.com/3440550
And on Amazon:
www.amazon.com/Lincoln-Other-Poems-Austin-Alexis/dp/0984184430/